Chapter 205: Double Profits on Both Sides
The action taken by Can’t Sleep this time was fully approved by the higher-ups.
As the official power of the state, it was crucial to have enough strength in the game to balance out other factions.
Nowadays, everyone knows that Fiery Conflict Across the Sky has “Nuclear Slash,” a move that’s practically a game-changer and can heavily intimidate other forces. Even when playing nice, he made sure everyone was scared out of their wits.
But let’s be real—without sufficient strength, relying on others’ cooperation just makes you look weak. You gotta throw around some real power to make your words count!
Actually, Eastern Dragon wasn’t just formed recently; it has been around since the game’s launch. But until now, they’ve been hiding in the shadows.
During their stealthy time, the members of Eastern Dragon focused mainly on exploring the map. They had pin-pointed four or five major cities around Emerald City and figured out the main routes connecting them. This area of the map was practically open for business!
The farthest city was quite a trek from Emerald City. Their members hustled day and night for a whole week, excluding some much-needed nap time, just to get there.
Other players didn’t have that kind of time on their hands. “Emerald City is already huge! Why would we venture out? We’re still grinding up our levels here, thank you very much!”
But not for Eastern Dragon. They had received orders from the higher-ups and were meant to keep exploring until they fully mapped out the entire Emerald Empire. Anything beyond that? Well, that’s a different story.
And then there’s “Can’t Sleep,” whose real-world identity is military school reserve officer named Li Zhenqiang, tasked with playing the game and serving as the guild’s vice president—not to mention, he’s essentially the head of the guild in-game.
The guild president? A higher-up who rarely logs in, preferring to command from the comfort of real life. Hey, when you’re older, games can be a bit of a hassle!
So here was Li Zhenqiang, brainstorming ways to snag a super powerful skill.
When Yuliya heard his plea, she nearly rolled her eyes into the next room. “Oh buddy, you’re really trying to pull a fast one on me, aren’t ya?”
“Big Brother, this is kinda tricky…”
Li Zhenqiang wasn’t expecting to just waltz in and get what he wanted. If he actually succeeded, he’d have to wonder if it was too good to be true!
“I know this might be tough for you, but we really, really need a powerful skill. Just throw your conditions at us, and we’ll do our best to meet them.”
He figured it was best to be upfront. It was hard to play mind games with a little loli without feeling remorse.
But not playing games didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in negotiations.
The officials needed her, so she was definitely gonna think of something.
“But… I can’t think of any conditions right now.”
Li Zhenqiang’s eyes lit up. “Wait, are you saying there’s a way? It’s just about the conditions?”
“Uhh… well, I could probably find a way to make one available, but there’s really only one! Big Brother, you better not tell anyone!”
“Deal! No worries!” Li Zhenqiang was over the moon.
“For conditions… the only thing we seem to have left is gold coins.”
Seriously, they were so broke they only had gold coins to their name.
Standing before an NPC, he didn’t think he had anything else of value to offer.
“How many gold coins do you want?”
“Um… I’m not sure.”
When she said she didn’t know, she really meant he should come up with a price.
Li Zhenqiang rubbed his temples. He needed something, but if he underbid, he’d feel like he was messing with a child. If she wasn’t happy, forget it—deal’s off!
On the other hand, if he overbid… well, who knows if he’d even get the budget approved!
He decided to huddle with the other two for a quick powwow. They were all from military school.
In the end, they came up with a bid of five million gold coins—five hundred million RMDB. They figured since it was three of them going in on this, it might just squeak through approval.
Was five hundred million a rip-off for a super powerful skill? Li Zhenqiang didn’t think so.
He was an official person with insider knowledge on game mechanics, understanding the real deal behind the scenes. He knew that the game connected to another real world.
“Whoa, that’s a lot! I can barely count that high!”
“So, can we say it’s settled?”
“Absolutely! I’ll come back tomorrow when I’m ready to give it to Big Brother.”
“Great! We’ve got some prepping to do too.”
The progress was unexpectedly smooth, and Li Zhenqiang let out a huge sigh of relief. Just needed to confirm it all tomorrow.
The other two were happy too, “Fantastic! We’ve nailed down something major. Now let’s figure out how to make our way to the Heroic Trials Tower!”
The trio was about to say goodbye to Yuliya when she called them back.
“Did you just say you’re headed to the Heroic Trials Tower?”
“Yep! Why?”
“Big Brother, I think I can help you with that!”
“Wait! You can help?!”
Li Zhenqiang was on the verge of jumping for joy. What a lovely surprise!
For Yuliya, it was the icing on the cake too.
“I know some nobles who have access to the Heroic Trials Tower, but…”
“But what?”
Yuliya dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Those nobles really love their gold coins.”
Cha-ching!
Li Zhenqiang leaned in, mimicking her tone. “How many gold coins are we talking?”
“Let me think… about a hundred thousand gold coins each.”
That was Yuliya’s own price, easy peasy since she was hitting up Sister Elia anyway. She could slice a little profit from that pie as well!
And a hundred thousand was a great price point.
“Just a hundred thousand?!” Li Zhenqiang slammed his fist on the table.
He had heard that Fiery Conflict Across the Sky spent six hundred thousand gold coins just to get a spot. A hundred thousand was well below his budget!
Fiery Conflict had gone in at level eleven and made it up three floors. Now, Li Zhenqiang was at level sixteen—who knows how far he’d make it!
Having survived the Ruinous Country dungeon, he had a deeper understanding of combat, and climbing the tower was going to be a walk in the park.
“If it’s a hundred thousand per slot, then we might snag even more!”
“How many slots can we squeeze in there, Little Sister?”
“Uhh… I’m not sure, but I’ll ask and let you know tomorrow.”
In reality, it was unlimited, but they ought to run it by Sister Elia first.
“Alright, I’m definitely heading to the Trials Tower tomorrow. Might as well start getting ready.”
“Yep, yep!”
They agreed to meet again at the same time tomorrow, feeling pumped about it all.
Li Zhenqiang and his team headed back with a bit of pep in their step.
They needed to report this massive success to their superiors and request aid—time to apply for funding!
Investing in top-tier combat strength was definitely not going to end up in the negative.
This was a privilege exclusive to the Huaxia Server; other servers didn’t even have a way to spend their money!
